GOP lawmaker: Steve King’s ’embrace of racism’ has no place in Congress

“This is an embrace of racism, and it has no place in Congress or anywhere,” Amash tweeted shortly after King’s comments surfaced. 

This is an embrace of racism, and it has no place in Congress or anywhere. https://t.co/jUXsNgckPE

— Justin Amash (@justinamash) January 10, 2019

{mosads}“White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?” King asked in an interview with The New York Times published Thursday. “Why did I sit in classes teaching me about the merits of our history and our civilization?”

The comments were made in a report on King’s hard-line views on immigration. King, responding to the story later in the day, said that he is not a white supremacist or white nationalist, but called himself a “nationalist.”

My statement on the New York Times article. pic.twitter.com/IjBHgZYgRD

— Steve King (@SteveKingIA) January 10, 2019

The statement prompted backlash from a number of journalists, commentators and lawmakers. 

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) called the comments “abhorrent and racist.”

These comments are abhorrent and racist and should have no place in our national discourse. Steve King asks how terms ‘white nationalist’ and ‘white supremacist’ became offensive | TheHill https://t.co/yL23avpNFB

— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) January 10, 2019

Rep. Paul Mitchell (R-Mich.) said that King’s “embrace of these terms and philosophies are fundamentally wrong and offensive and have no place in Congress, our nation, or anywhere.”

.@SteveKingIA the embrace of these terms and philosophies are fundamentally wrong and offensive and have no place in Congress, our nation, or anywhere. https://t.co/jKYvAPtUU1

— Rep. Paul Mitchell (@RepPaulMitchell) January 10, 2019

Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, meanwhile, called on Congress to censure King. 

“And then he ought to be primaried ASAP,” he said. 

Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) also urged the House to censure King for his “racist remarks.”

“These remarks should also be repudiated by Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and all of Rep. King’s colleagues,” Ryan added. “Support for white supremacist ideology should have no place in Congress.”

The U.S. House of Representatives must censure Rep. Steve King for his racists remarks. These remarks should also be repudiated by Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and all of Rep. King’s colleagues. Support for white supremacist ideology should have no place in Congress. https://t.co/MCnIowmBkv

— Congressman Tim Ryan (@RepTimRyan) January 10, 2019

King’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill. 

King has drawn scrutiny over his comments about subjects such as immigration in the past. He once tweeted that diversity is not America’s strength. 

“Assimilation has become a dirty word to the multiculturalist Left. Assimilation, not diversity, is our American strength,” he said on Twitter in December 2017. 

In 2018, he defended his association with a far-right Austrian group with links to the Nazi party and his views on immigration, saying that “if they were in America … they would be Republicans.”

His public comments prompted a number of corporations last year to stop making campaign contributions to the congressman.  

King beat his Democratic challenger, J.D. Scholten, by 3 percentage points in November’s midterm elections. King has been in Congress since 2003.

King will face new obstacles in the next election. Iowa state Sen. Randy Feenstra (R) announced on Wednesday that he would challenge King for his northwest Iowa House seat in 2020. 

His announcement was followed by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) saying she would not endorse King for reelection. 

“The last election was a wake-up call for it to be that close,” Reynolds told the local TV station.

Updated at 2:19 p.m.